“How wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself?” ― Anaïs Nin. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, there are many lessons on a person's search for identity. The search of Janie’s identity throughout this book is very visible. The search has to do with her name and freedom for herself. As she goes through life, her search to find her identity took many turns. Some for the worse and some for the better. In the end she finally finds her true identity. Throughout her marriages with Logan, Joe, then Tea Cake, she figures out what she wants and how she wants to live her life. So in the end, she is happy and where she wants to be. In the early life of Janie, she grew up and lived with her grandmother, Nanny. Nanny and Janie got through life pretty well and were lucky enough to have the privilege to live in the yard of white folks. As Janie was growing up, she would play with the white children.¬ While she was at this age, she was faced a lot of criticism and was called many names. The name calling kept coming so much that soon everyone started calling her alphabet, "'cause so many people had done named me different names." Soon, she started piecing together what she knew of her odd identity. One day she saw herself in a photograph and noticed that she looked different from the other kids, that she had darker skin than the others, and she said, "before Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah wuz just like de rest." From this point, Janie fell into somewhat of a downward spiral. This set her off of the path toward finding her own identity in society. Finally, when she was older Nanny saw her kissing some boy u... ... middle of paper ... ...r happiness and knowledge of her identity. In this novel, Zora Neale Hurston shows many points on her view of a woman's place in America in the twentieth century. One of the points that she makes is that women need to search for their independent identity. That women should not settle for a simple life of being put down and controlled by men. If women are dissatisfied in a marriage they need to move on toward the things that do satisfy them. She is also stating that women in the twentieth century can hold their own in life. They should become equals of men in work, because they are not the stupid weaklings that should be forced to fill a roll of subservience to men. Finally her last comment about women's place in America in the twentieth century is that women can be independent and don't have to lose their identity when they get married.
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
The first ideas that Janie was exposed to were those of her. grandmother, a nanny of mine. Nanny saw that Janie was entering womanhood and she didn't want Janie to experience what her mother went through. So Nanny set. out to marry her as soon as possible. When Janie asked about love, she was. told that marriage makes love and she will find love after she marries Logan. Nanny believed that love was second to stability and security.
and she wants to protect her from harm and danger. Janie's life as a young
feels free and discovers many new things in life that she has not noticed before.
As Janie is growing up she has to learn to accept her Nanny’s belief of how a woman is supposed to live in society. Nanny grew up in slavery so she believes that the role of men is to support his wife financially. Nanny thinks Janie should marry a man according to how successful he is and Janie should keep up the household responsibilities. Janie’s grandmother said, “Ah been waitin’ a long time, Janie, but nothin’ Ah I
herself through her marriages, which plays an important role in shaping her life. And Janie is
There was a time (not so long ago) when a man's superiority and authority wasn't a question, but an accepted truth. In the two short stories, "Desiree's Baby", and "The Yellow Wallpaper", women are portrayed as weak creatures of vanity with shallow or absent personalities, who are dependent on men for their livelihood, and even their sanity. Without men, these women were absolutely helpless and useless. Their very existence hinged on absolute and unquestioning submission…alone, a woman is nothing.
herself, and how she was brought up, as I think this has had a big
... that no matter what she does, she can never get her old life back, and in the end accept this fact and moves on with her new life in Elsewhere.
meantime she goes through a series of maturing experiences. She learns how to see her
In Zora Neale Hurston’s, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she expresses Janie’s home in many different ways. The saying, “You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you,” simply suggests that home is a certain feeling or state of being. When it comes to Janie, home for her would be anytime she felt free, loved, or accepted which ties into the novel as a whole; anything the characters worried about or hoped for they looked unto God.
"And, Janie, maybe it wasn't much, but Ah done de best Ah kin by you. Ah raked and scraped and bought dis lil piece uh land so you wouldn't have to stay in de white folks' yard and tuck yo' head befo' other chillun at school. Dat was all right when you was little. But when you got big enough to understand things, Ah wanted you to look upon yo'self. Ah don't want yo' feathers always crumpled by folks throwin' up things in yo' face. And ah can't die easy thinkin' maybe de menfolks white or black is makin' a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me. Put down easy, Janie, Ah'm a cracked plate." Last Paragraph in Chapter 2
The first two people Janie depended on were her Grandmother, whom she called Nanny, and Logan Killicks. Janie’s marriage to Logan Killicks was partially arranged by Nanny. Nanny had felt the need to find someone for Janie to depend on before she died and Janie could no longer depend on her. At first, Janie was very opposed to the marriage. Nanny responded with, “’Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection. ...He (God) done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life.”(p.14) Nanny instilled the sense of needing a man for safety on Janie that Janie keeps with her throughout her life. After Nanny’s death, Janie continued to stay with Logan despite her dislike for him. She would have left immediately, however, if she did not need to depend on him.
Through her three marriages, the death of her one true love, and proving her innocence in Tea Cake’s death, Janie learns to look within herself to find her hidden voice. Growing as a person from the many obstacles she has overcome during her forty years of life, Janie finally speaks her thoughts, feelings and opinions. From this, she finds what she has been searching for her whole life, happiness.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can